1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a portable terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing an instrument playing service through a portable terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent technology developments have brought high-quality, diverse functions to portable terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). With this trend, the portable terminals are now equipped with a function of playing music, which extends from the function of editing melodies or bell sounds.
For example, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2002-66875 entitled “Portable Phone having Melody Playing Function” discloses a portable phone having a built-in melody chip that enables a user to play melodies using a keypad. The portable phone with the melody playing function includes the keypad with digit keys 0 to 9 for dialing a phone number and * and # as function keys, a controller for sensing a key pressed in the keypad and generating a melody selection control signal for identifying the key input. The melody chip generates a melody frequency corresponding to the melody selection control signal. A filtering unit converts the melody frequency to notes through filtering, and an amplifier for amplifies the melody notes to a predetermined power level and outputs the amplified melody notes through a speaker.
As described above, the portable terminal provides an instrument playing service through a keypad of a different shape from instruments. Therefore, even a user who may be good at playing a particular instrument may not be able to easily play music on the portable terminal.
Another disadvantage with the conventional instrument playing service is that the keypad has a limited number of keys, i.e., not enough to play music in a wide sound range.
Moreover, the time required to press a key is difficult to reduce, which in turn makes it difficult to play a percussion instrument such as the drum.
Therefore, a need exists for developing a technology that enables more natural music playing using a portable terminal.